Bridal Shower / Hen's Night - Help !!!

I am Matron of Honour for my friend's wedding. I have decided to have a Bridal Shower in the afternoon which leads to pre-dinner drinks and hen's night. Just a tame night though. A restaurant and then maybe a few drinks out but NO all out clubbing or strippers. I have two things that I need help with. I would love for the guests to dress up to give it that little more excitment for the guests but I don't want them to have to go to too much trouble or spend much money. What dressup theme do you think is good? I was thinking just a WIG GIG but it doesn't have anything to do with weddings. Does that matter? Also do I have a special cake for her to cut at the Bridal Shower or no cake? I have no idea.

Maybe you could have a theme set for 'Who can out do the bride with what is already in their wardrobe?' That way everyone can dress up in what they already own and get as pretty as they can. or want. Then there is less risk of poeple dressing better than the bride on the day, because she has already seen the best they can do and if needed she can adjust her accesories to reflect this.

You could have a white theme or have everyone wear flowers in their hair...or maybe everybody can bring a flower that reminds them of the bride and explain why they chose it in front of everyone. It lets everyone get to know each other and how they know the bride. Have fun!

You could just have a colour theme. It's simple and easy for everyone and if you pick a popular colour like pink everyone is bound to have that colour in the wardrobe that they can wear. Then you can also dress the bride up with a 'bride to be' sash, a flashing tiara and a make shift veil made out of fabric from spotlight.

Thanks heaps for those ideas. A colour theme so guests can use things out of their own wardrobe sounds great. Does anyone know if it is the norm to have a cake???

In all the hens nights/kitchen teas i have been to we have never had a cake but it doesnt mean that you cant have one.

Ok I won't have a cake. Thanks for that AliBaby.

My GF had a red theme! It was great because people could go all out or subtle with earrings etc... and we had red drinks like cosmos all night! :) We didn't have a cake but doesn't mean you don't have to - maybe a phallic shaped one would be appropriate! hehe! Although the one I planned was tame too we still had fun with straws etc and just recently went to one at the Sofitel - very posh,m but we had fun with our straws in champers and the bride wore little leopard print ear headband instead of a veil! Have fun planning!

I don't think cakes are the norm. But my bridesmaids made one for me complete with chocolate penis's on top, rofl, lovely.

I have no idea sorry.

I have never been to a hens night/kitchen tea or anything.

I'm the 1st in my very small group of friends that will be getting married sooner or later!

What about the worst Bridesmaid dress???
We threw a hens night for one of the guys that we worked with (we couldnt go to his bucks night as seeing as nurses are predominantly female we didnt want to miss out on the celebrations)
Anyway so we came dressed in really bad bridesmaid dress that we had been asked to wear or when op shopping for awful dresses... it was heaps of fun and for those that had dresses that wouldnever be worn again, they got another chance out of the wardrobe!

My girls organised a very similar day for me...

We had a "french boudoir" theme for the Bridal Shower which started at 2pm and went until 5.30. The colours were pink and black. Everything was themed in these colours right down to my cake and the food served. Everyone wore pink and black and my girls organised a lingerie party as well (my cousin is an Intimo consultant). The day consisted of punch, champagne, lingerie, games and lots of laughter. The photos are brilliant because everyone looked the part. Everyone bought some lingerie from Intimo so I was given $300 to spend just for being the host! I bought my wedding and honeymoon lingerie! It made for such a girly day and we all had such a fun time.

We then went to my favourite Japanese restaurant where we had teppenyaki followed by a "pub crawl" which went until 3am (very messy). It was probably the most fun I have ever had with my friends!

The theme is so easy to do because there is so much stuff out there to buy. My girls made my invitations from Cristina Re paper and they also bought some cheap paper lanterns from ebay in pink and black which really made the house look fantastic for the day. It's so easy and it looked fantastic!

I am going to my SIL's hens night in a couple of weeks and the theme for the night is red. At my hens night it was also a colour theme and that was pink.

I have been to a Sex and The City hens night where everyone had to dress as their fave character...some people went all out and had wigs and everything. We dressed the bride up as Carrie complete with wig and a letter necklace and drunk lots of cosmos as well as having reruns of Sex adn The City on.

At my other SIL's hens night we bought little red devils headbands for her and us the bridesmaids and angel halos for the rest of the guests....they provided a lot of conversation starters when we later went out. :lol:

A good game to play also is to get in contact with the groom and ask him a series of questions that the bride should know the answer to eg fave colour, first girlfriend/job, name of highschool, fave movie etc and for everyone that she gets wrong she has to perhaps have a shot of alcohol or you can have some other punishment - it can be heaps of fun. :lol:

Hope you have a great night.